Festivals/Annual Events

Scandinavia, which encompasses Iceland, Finland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, is a land that brings to mind long winters, saunas and fair-skinned natives. But, the northern European culture is also deeply rooted in the Ballard community.

Viking Days took place July 17 and July 18 at the Nordic Heritage Museum. The festival, now in its 27th year, featured reenactments, Scandinavian food, tables lined with Nordic arts and crafts plastic sets of Viking armor and for the children.

Eric Nelson, CEO of the Nordic Heritage Museum and a third-generation Swede, said the two-day festival is a community event.

“One of the favorite stops is the Taste of Scandinavia,” Nelson said, pointing to a line of women busily producing sugary edibles. “We have a group of volunteers from each of the five countries who all prepare specialty foods. Those are all community members, most of them live in Seattle and help out at the museum.”

While the weekend attraction used to include a broader celebration of Scandinavia, it has since shifted its focus to Viking culture.

Nelson said the festival was particularly pertinent to the Ballard neighborhood.

07/19/2010

Photo credit:

Celina Kareiva

Mary Viker poses with her Norwegian dolls at the 27th annual Viking Days July 17.

Mediterranean Fantasy Fest set for Saturday and Sunday at Hiawatha

This is your chance to not only eat Mediterranean food but dance the calories away at this non-stop festival of music and entertainment.

275 dancers will take part with vendors selling a wide variety of ethnic crafts and goods. The event is FREE.

This event is locally-sponsored and focuses on the dances of the Mediterranean area. Traditional Greek food, will be sold.

It takes place from 11 AM to 7 PM on Saturday July 17 and Sunday July 18 at the Hiawatha Community Center adjacent to West Seattle High school at 2700 California Ave SW.

This year we have several very well known performing groups coming to town to perform in our parade. The Charros Association of Washington, will have a performance showing the training skills and agility of the horses and horsemen alike.

The members are on horseback performing routines as they go along the Parade route.

Make sure to bring the entire family to enjoy this great group of professional horesman. read more »

Location

Ballard SeafoodFest 2010 kicked off July 10 with sun, crowds and not just a little lutefisk.

Stan Boreson, accordion player and humorist, opened the day with some Ballard-style jokes – "A Swede asks a Norwegian how many chickens he has in a bag. The Norwegian says if he guesses how many chickens he has in the bag, he'll give him both. The Swede guesses five. The Norwegian says, 'You missed it by two.'"

Elsewhere, children made boats with help from the Center for Wooden Boats, and salmon after salmon was slathered with butter and cooked to perfection.

As always, the annual Lutefisk Eating Contest was a major draw.

State Representative Mary Lou Dickerson said she remembers participating in the challenge 18 years ago.

"Well, I didn't throw up," she said when asked how she did.

After a moment of silence to remember fallen contestants of years past, it was time to meet the 10 souls brave enough to guzzle down 3.25 pounds of gelatinous, lye-soaked fish for the chance to win $250.

The contestants were split between those who had eaten the Scandinavian delicacy before and loved it and those who were lutefisk rookies.

Contestant Charles celebrates his victory in the first round of the annual Lutefisk Eating Contest July 10 at the 2010 Ballard SeafoodFest. CLICK IMAGE FOR MORE PHOTOS.

Annual event features, vendors, art, food and music

The 28th Annual West Seattle Summer Fest is here again July 9-11, hosted by the West Seattle Junction Association.

Summer Fest is host to dozens of bands (see the lineup below or download a printable schedule at the link above), hundreds of merchants and artists, and over 30,000 attendees. This year people attending will enjoy a food court, beer gardens and plenty of family activities.

Live music on two stages, a skateboard exhibition, and a large kid friendly family activity area are all part of the show this year.

Closing out the show on Sunday July 11 are The School Of Rock All Stars (performing Live Aid Remade, with songs by David Bowie, Queen, Judas Priest, U2 and more) and the Polyrithmics an all original, 8-piece Funk and Afrobeat Orchestra comprised of some of Seattles finest rhythmic and melodic musicians.

The West Seattle Summer Fest started as the West Seattle Sidewalk Sale. Over time more and more activities were added, and more people began attending until it grew into what is now the West Seattle Summer Fest, voted “favorite annual event” by West Seattle Herald readers and attracting visitors from the entire Puget Sound region.

2010 West Seattle Summer Fest - July 9th, 10th and 11th
2010 marks the 28th anniversary of the West Seattle Summer Fest! West Seattle Summer Fest is a FREE 3-day street fair, hosted by an organization of local area merchants, the West Seattle Junction Association. West Seattle Summer Fest is host to dozens of bands, hundreds of merchants and artists, and over 30,000 attendees. Complete with a food court, beer gardens and family activities, this is a true community celebration in the heart of West Seattle.

Location

2010 West Seattle Summer Fest - July 9th, 10th and 11th
2010 marks the 28th anniversary of the West Seattle Summer Fest! West Seattle Summer Fest is a FREE 3-day street fair, hosted by an organization of local area merchants, the West Seattle Junction Association. West Seattle Summer Fest is host to dozens of bands, hundreds of merchants and artists, and over 30,000 attendees. Complete with a food court, beer gardens and family activities, this is a true community celebration in the heart of West Seattle.

Location

2010 West Seattle Summer Fest - July 9th, 10th and 11th
2010 marks the 28th anniversary of the West Seattle Summer Fest! West Seattle Summer Fest is a FREE 3-day street fair, hosted by an organization of local area merchants, the West Seattle Junction Association. West Seattle Summer Fest is host to dozens of bands, hundreds of merchants and artists, and over 30,000 attendees. Complete with a food court, beer gardens and family activities, this is a true community celebration in the heart of West Seattle.

Location

Thousands of zombies swarmed the streets of Fremont July 3 looking for victims, brains and a Guinness World Record.

The second-annual Red, White & Dead zombie walk was an attempt to reclaim the zombie walk record from England, who stole it after last summer's event. Seattle had 3,894 zombies last July, but England edged the city out with 4,026.

Zombie families, zombie dogs, zombie clowns and much more shuffled their way through the Center of the Universe, followed by the occasional zombie hunter.

Zombie-walker Becca Boehm said she and her family participated in the event to show their patriotism.

"It started off as the death of the financial system," said Chris Hammersley, who was dressed as zombie Uncle Sam. "And, you know, Uncle Sam – Fourth of July – zombies. It works."

Red, White & Dead was officially produced by Fremont Outdoor Movies. Stay tuned to see if the Fremont zombie apocalypse was overwhelming enough to reclaim the crown.

UPDATE: Fremont Outdoor Movies counted 4,920 zombies total at Red, White and Dead. So far, 4,233 have been verified, enough to take back the Guinness World Record from England.

07/04/2010

Photo credit:

Keith Daigle

Zombies from far and wide converged on Fremont July 3, united in their desire for brains and a Guinness World Record. CLICK IMAGE FOR MORE PHOTOS.

A 64 year-old SeaTac man was injured when homemade fireworks exploded Sunday night, July 4th, sending him to Harborview Medical Center with critical injuries.
The Sheriff's Office Major Crimes Unit and Bomb Disposal Unit are investigating.

Deputies were called to a house in the 2800 block of South 138th St. shortly before 11 p.m. The victim was already in route to Harborview with fire department medics.

Deputies were told a 52 year-old resident of the house built a homemade "aerial device" by tying together a bundle of sparklers. He placed the sparklers in a tube, and then into a concrete cinder block to brace it. When the man lit off the "rocket', it exploded in place, sending pieces of the concrete block in all directions.

The victim was standing about 15 to 20 feet away when the device detonated. He was hit in the head by part of the cinder block, causing a serious head injury, which, according to the fire department, was life threatening.

Other pieces of the block struck a nearby car, denting the door and breaking the window. The house and the garage door were also hit.